Exhausted and apprehensive, but warm, dry, clean and no longer in the dark. [View all]

Yesterday we got our power back. The day before we were told we could use the water to bathe and drink. I am no longer camping out in my own home. I have made it back to shore and there is ground under my feet again, but I am facing a pretty big hill to climb.

There had been a mandatory evacuation order for my barrier beach island, just like there had been for Irene, which hadn't even put out our lights. The mister said we'll just stay put.. it'll be alright. The wind rose, the trees began waving around, and the power went out at 7:27 pm.

High tide for us was set for 8:11 pm. There was water in the street, gutter to gutter, but not over the curb. I thought "Well, that's alright then." I kept glancing out the window. Apparently the "surge" and high tide hadn't consulted. Suddenly it seemed a huge river had grown between us and the house across the street.

It was like a black Niagara ... up to the dash of the Taurus and nearly up to the windows of the Quest. It was moving so fast that had I dipped my foot over the edge of our top porch step I would have been pulled in. I could make out the speed of the water by the light of exploding transformers. At the height of this fury the electrical system of our van shorted and the interior lights went on, as if some Fuath had climbed in determined to drive away.

About 8:40 water started coming up through the floorboards It didn't come up very high, and it didn't stay very long, but I threw a drawerful of important papers into a plastic bag and clothes, blankets, flashlights and candles into another and pulled down the attic stairs, just in case. It sank back down into the crawl space in the next couple hours, leaving the floors ruined, furniture wrecked, appliances useless, and the four of us wiped out. I put in a quick call to Mom & my Sis.. (I'm not sure how I managed that . . apparently the cell phone hadn't quite died yet.. It did by morning) and passed out.

It took days before we could communicate with the outside world again by any means. The land line and the old princess phone that I've kept for decades "in case the power goes out" is STILL dead.

We have a lot of fixing to do, all the cars to replace and probably insurance claims to fight for.We are all ok though.